Password

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Spring Break!!

On Friday Grandma Russell walked with me and the kiddos to drop them off at Chess class. Avery was able to come with us because it was sibling day at chess!


Grandma was able to see the library at Nico's school and also his classroom and where he sat.

Guy and Grandpa and Grandma were able to experience the paella at the Basque Market in Boise for lunch. They make a huge batch and when it's gone, it's gone. They got their tickets ahead of time and it sold out fast.



Nico had an early release that afternoon and we headed over to the Botanical Garden. Check out the video at the end of this entry to see snippets of Nico's Spring break, including some from the Botanical Garden!








On Saturday we went to Birds of Prey. We listened to a talk about the birds at the center, and then walked around the building to see all the interesting bird facts.










Afterward we went to Jimmy John's for lunch



From there, the Grandparents Russell took Nico and Guy to visit Aunt Ruthie and GG and Aunt Pat. I headed home to bake some bread, cookies, and meatloaf.

Saturday night was pizza night, we ordered in from Smoky Mountain Pizza, and we watched Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole on the TV downstairs while we ate pizza. Jeff and Allicia and their crew had gone out of town for the weekend, so we were able to use the downstairs area for a movie!

Sunday was church, and then a visit to the Library for a talk about birds in Boise and how to recognize them. Each time the speaker came to a new slide with a new bird, she would ask if anyone knew what it was. Nico was in the back with us and so she would rarely see Nico as he raised his hand to answer. Such a good student to raise his hand! Grandma told him that he could blurt the answer, and so he waited patiently for the turn of each slide, and then would blurt out the bird.

Afterward, he told Grandma he wanted to check out a story book with birds in it, and our Grandma Librarian was on the case and found the exact kind of thing he wanted. It was amazing, I'm not sure how she did it.

She found this one, along with some Bird and Squirrel graphic novels and a few others. Perfect options for Nico. 

Nico and I read this one before bed tonight, the whole thing. It was a cute story. 

Sunday night, Guy and I attended Bible Study like usual but Nico stayed home with the Grandparents. He was able to take a bath upstairs, and then Grandma read him books before bed. After Guy and I got home, him and Grandma and I went downstairs to watch an episode of Father Brown on Netflix. Totally worth staying up late for!

Monday morning, Nico and Grandpa Russell and I went to an art store in downtown Boise to get some art supplies. Idaho Blueprint and Supply. Quite a nice selection!



We came back home for a bit and then headed out for more adventures. We first went to the downtown library to check out a few more books, then to the Discovery Center. We ran into friends from church there, Nico's friends Lazarus, Leona, and Matthias.





From there went to the Boise Fry Company to eat some lunch!



Nico loved the food there! Afterward we went to the MK Nature Center.





From there we came home, and spent the rest of the evening relaxing. Grandpa and Grandma left the next morning. It was such a fun time having them here for a few days, we will see them again in June when we visit Arlington!!

Tuesday mid-morning another batch of fun started for Nico. Grandma Camp! I dropped him off Tuesday and picked him up this afternoon (Thursday) before dinner. 

On Wednesday Grandma sent me these pictures with this note: 

"Nico discovered the girls were wearing "fake" glasses and wanted a pair!  So while we were in the mall I sat outside Claire's and the girls took Nico into the store to fit and find him a pair that looked good on him.  It was adorable to watch them trying them on him and commenting their opinion.  In the end this is what he chose!"




This evening at dinner he told us all about the mystery of the printer that kept printing without anyone initiating it. He told us how on Tuesday night it printed "Shouldn't you be in bed?", and then another one on Wednesday with a symbol from Watcher in the Woods (scary movie), and then another note in the DVD case of the movie. 

Other things that happened while at Grandma camp: Smores, Pizza, Easter egg hunt, Jump Time. They even met some new friends. A family friend, Robin, came over with her 4 grandchildren to participate in coloring egg cartons and then of course the egg hunt. They also played games with a parachute, one in particular where they bring the parachute up and then all go inside (see video) to have a "government meeting". They spend the time in their meeting saying "You're guilty!" and voting people out. It's hilarious. I witnessed them playing this game when I came to pick Nico up this afternoon.

Government meeting time!

Robin reading a book to the kiddos.

 Ready to decorate their egg cartons.

Grandma sent me this picture this morning:


And then tonight before his shower he told me his tummy didn't feel very good, and I asked when it started and he said that he felt sick this morning like he was going to throw up (picture him pretending to throw up), so "I did iPad and drank milk" and that made him feel better. Before dinner he was whining of a hurt tummy and said "I feel like I'm going to throw up some day." he he. But then when he saw what I had made for dinner - TOAST on white bread, he said "Ok I'll eat". I had also made spaghetti and salad but he was only interested in the toast. 

Evelyn was over for dinner as well. After dinner they did art using the new supplies. Evelyn was in heaven.


I gave Nico a little back massage with some essential oils before bed. I hope he feels better tomorrow! I didn't send his supplements with him to Grandma Camp. Perhaps I should have! They are good for tummies.

Video!!

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Sunny With a Chance of Leprechaun, Emojis, G.G., and Grandparents Russell arrive!

Last Friday Nico had a school program, Sunny With a Chance of Leprechaun. Both Evelyn and Nico were in the production. Guy and I and Allicia and the rest of the kiddos went to the 10:00 showing. See the video at the end for the highlights!


Nico has been pretending to be a chicken lately. In fact, when his baseball coach's wife introduced herself (did I mention this already last week?), Nico shook her hand and said "bock bock?" like a chicken. Guy and Nico play this game where Guy says a fact about chickens and Nico acts out the fact. "A chicken can lay up to 300 eggs per year" for example. When the acting out gets annoying, Guy "cuts off" his head and Nico crumples to the floor. Then Guy sews his neck back on and says another fact for Nico to act out. 

Anyway, I bring this up now because as soon as Nico got onto his riser for the performance, he started pretending to be a chicken. We noticed the girl next to him on his left (his crush from last year) telling him to stop doing it. Heehee. He stopped for a minute and then started up again.

Saturday was a full and fun day. When Nico and I were snuggling after the day was over, I asked him what his favorite thing was and he said "All of it!" 

Guy's work had a family day (Photronics Phun Day) that he took Nico to. I stayed home and precooked our pizza crusts for that night and did some chores around the house. At the Phun Day, they made slime, did a scavenger hunt, and ate hot dogs and hamburgers. 




Shortly after they got home, I took Nico to Lexie's birthday party. The theme was Emojis. It was a wonderful party!! So many fun things. They jumped on the trampoline at first, then they made tie dye shirts, played pin the poop emoji on the toilet, then did the Seran Wrap ball game.



 Nico and cousins Rory and Lexie, Grandma in the middle.


Two of his prizes

We came straight home afterward and had pizza! We've been taking turns choosing what to watch, since we've had a difficult time agreeing on anything. It was my turn to choose but gave my rights away to Nico. We watched Garfield. 

Sunday after church I took Nico to Dicks Sporting Goods to buy him some cleats, it was the last day our 20% off coupon was good. Since he was in a league, they gave him a free towel and a pair of sunglasses too.

Tuesday was our trip to Nampa to see G.G. and Aunt Pat. Aunt Pat was so sweet to let Nico play a game on her computer where he tries to get the grandma to the end safely. We learned that the field behind their house will soon be houses! We picked up Jimmy Johns on the way home, and since it was Tuesday we watched some TV while we ate, Nico chose Garfield again.

Wednesday evening was Ivy's birthday party! Allicia made an incredible spread of Chipotle copy-cat recipes so we could all have burritos or burrito bowls, it was really amazing. I don't have any pictures of this, but it was a fun time!

TODAY Grandma and Grandpa Russell arrived!


We have 4 more days with them, it should be a FUN weekend, I'll update about that next week! Tomorrow starts Nico's Spring Break!

Until then...

I thought I was recording Nico's entire pin-the-poop-emoji-on-the-toilet, but in fact I was NOT, and when I hit the "Stop" button I was actually hitting the "Record" button, so this is the very tail end of his experience with the game. Oh well!